Flying SoLo
by Emeraldax
Summary: Story about Sonny and Lois and her role in a major decision he makes. Some scenes set in the OLTL world, but you don't have to be an OLTL viewer to follow along.


Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, ABC does.

Accuracy Disclaimer: I started writing this right after Durant got shot, then picked it up again after the baby's memorial. Forgive me if some stuff is off. Also, I have no idea what part of their growing up years Lois and Sonny knew each other, so I am assuming that they parted ways when they were teens or shortly after.

Port Charles, New York

Lois stared at the water, at the moonlight shimmering on the surface. She heard a noise behind her and knew instantly who it was. Without turning around, she murmured, "Its not like you to skulk in the shadows, Sonny." She heard his deep throated chuckle; an answering grin slowly took over her face. "Funny you should mention skulking in shadows. I was just about to warn you – for the thousandth time – that you shouldn't come to the docks at night. You never know what's lurking around here." Lois sighed. "And I'll remind you – for the thousandth time – that I grew up in Brooklyn. I'm well prepared, thank you very much. And I'll tell you another thing. If you had seen some of the dives I've gone into looking for new talent, you'd realize that whatever's in those shadows should be afraid of me." Sonny shook his head. "I don't doubt it. But I still want you to be safe. Why are you out here anyway?"

Lois turned back to stare at the moonlight twinkling on the water. "Wondering who the hell I think I am raising a teenage daughter. Its really twisted, Sonny, when you realize that your own daughter has more common sense than you do." Sonny stared over the water also. "I'll keep that in mind. I certainly wish my son had more common sense than me. Instead, he's following right in my footsteps." Lois stared at him with her sad eyes. "And that scares the hell out of you, doesn't it?" Sonny clenched his jaw and pounded his fist on the railing. "I became what I am because of my hellish childhood. I swore that my children would have better, make better choices. It shouldn't be this way." His lip trembled the way it did whenever he was trying hard to contain his raw and violent emotions. "Carly just told me that Michael handed her a suitcase and ordered her out of the penthouse. And just a few weeks ago, when Durant was shot, Michael asked me if I had put out a hit on him. He wasn't asking because he was afraid. He was asking because he was proud of his dad for what he saw as swiftly and effectively eliminating the enemy. His grandfather! The enemy!" Sonny's whole body was shaking at this point.

"And now I'm wondering what to do about a daughter that's been kept from me for two years. Kept from me because her mother feared for her safety, feared for what her child could become if she was raised by me. How the hell do I respond to that? With denials? When my own son is living proof of her concerns?" Sonny looked like he was going to tear through the railing. Lois bit her lip. Suddenly her feud with her daughter over her mom having a crush on a gangster was not so big a deal. "Sonny…..I'm so sorry." She put her hand over his, which gripped the railing with white-knucked intensity. "What are you going to do about Kristina?" He laughed bitterly. "My usual reaction is to take what is mine, gain custody. I've even hired a lawyer. Alexis keeps begging me to back off, saying that my life is so dangerous. And the way Michael keeps saying and doing these ugly things, taking after me in the worst possible way…suddenly I don't know anymore." Lois tried not to choke on her words. "What does Carly think?" Sonny shook his head. "It doesn't matter what she thinks anymore. We're over. She's moved out and taken Michael and Morgan with her. No screaming and yelling, for once. It's just over. I am alone again in my penthouse. Just like Jason is alone because Courtney left him, and now Sam is threatening to leave because she doesn't think he wants her without her baby. Sooner or later they all leave, because in the end they just can't take what we do."

Sonny sat down on the bench, obviously spent from his outburst. Lois sat beside him, then started to shiver as the breeze picked up. Sonny put his arm around her. "Come on, let me take you to the Cellar." She shook her head. "I don't want to run into Lorenzo." He lifted an eyebrow. "I won't argue with that. Well, I can't take a girl like you to the No Name." He tried a grin. She folded her arms. "Are you forgetting the dives I told you about? What makes you think I'm above the No Name?" He shrugged. "Its filled with gangsters. I know how you feel about gangsters." She rolled her eyes. "Apparently not harshly enough to avoid having one as a friend. Or a lover." Sonny looked at her. "You and I have never slept together." Her eyes widened. "No, of course not. Perish the thought. What a laugh, I mean, you and me? Lovers? Hooo boy, what an idea. You and me. Ha!" She paused to glance at him. His chocolate brown eyes were unreadable, as usual, but she felt like they had slightly liquified. "Um…I meant Lorenzo. He was my gangster lover. Hah, sounds like a line from a rap song." He sighed. "I see. I didn't realize it had gotten that serious. I figured you were just having a light flirtation with some business mixed in."

Lois stood up again, and started to pace. "It was, for a long time. Then it got too serious, too quick. As a result we crashed and burned. Then we were picking up the pieces. It was starting to go well again. Then…." She stopped, sniffling slightly. "When he was just your business rival, Sonny, it didn't seem that serious to me. L&B has business rivals. Sometimes we even fight dirty when competing to sign new talent. But when Lorenzo put a hit out on Durant and tried to frame you for it. Sonny, he tried to put you in jail. I couldn't handle that. Suddenly it was just all too ugly, and my daughter's words were ringing in my ears." Sonny stared at her. "You finally turned your back on him because of me?" Lois hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, yeah, but don't take it too personally. If he had gone after anyone I cared about….Ned…Jax…." Sonny gripped her shoulders. "Don't you understand, Lois. This wouldn't have happened with Ned or Jax because they aren't in the kind of business I'm in. This is just one more example of how my job affects other people. Of course, I wouldn't necessarily consider this a negative outcome. I'm rather glad that you're no longer with Alcazar."

They stood there for a moment. Sonny's hands were still on her shoulders, and they were close enough that the mist that floated from their mouths mingled in between them. Lois looked into his eyes again. They were even more liquid this time, she could almost see them swirling like hot chocolate that has just been stirred. Lois was trying hard to think of something to say, but Sonny spoke first. "I'm so sorry, Lois. For asking you to spy on Alcazar for me. I don't know what I was thinking. I guess, unconsciously, I thought that if you were spending time with a man like him, then that meant you were somehow…" She finished the thought he didn't want to voice, "Corruptable?" He shook his head. "I should have known it wasn't true. You were always so pure and honest. I was actually glad when you turned me down. Frustrated, but glad. It meant that you hadn't changed. That you were still the same Lois I had known. Who was so good, and so sweet that I knew I could never…." She stared at him. "Never what?" He put his hands down to his side. "I knew I could never intentionally hurt you. But I did. And I'm sorry." She put her hand on his cheek. "I forgive you, Sonny."

Lois started to walk away, but then she turned back. "Would you do me a favor, Sonny?" He stared at her. "Anything." She bit her lip, trying to stop the shivers that went up her spine at the way he said that one word, and stop the fantasies that flew into her head at the implications of that word. "Brookie has started hanging out with that Diego boy, the one Courtney's fostering. She hooked up with him at first to prove a point about bad boys, but I think they're really starting to connect. Anyway, my point is, I know that he's been looking to join your business. Please don't let him, Sonny." Sonny smoothed back his hair. "You mean, don't taint your daughter's friend with my dirty work?" She winced. "Sonny…" He walked up to her and caressed her cheek. "Don't say it, Lois. Don't ever become my apologist. I have way too many of those in my life." He walked away.

Llanview, Pennsylvania

Sonia Delgado sat staring at the list on the computer, memorizing the names and their corresponding information. The most powerful people in the world were on this list. She stared for awhile at the name Sonny Corinthos. She smiled briefly. She met Sonny once, making a run to Port Charles on business. He had told her in no uncertain terms that the Santis weren't welcome there. Once he'd made it clear that she wasn't welcome, they'd had a brief, but extremely combustible affair, parting amicably. Over the years she had heard of other women in his life who'd betrayed him to law enforcement. He had even had an affair with an FBI agent, Hannah Scott. Sonia was very glad he'd never found out she was really INL. She wondered if El Tiburon had gotten to Sonny. Unlikely. Her adoptive brother would be a fool to even approach him.

As she powered down the laptop, there was a knock on the door. When she opened it, she stared in incredulity. Sonny Corinthos was standing there. He swept in, glancing around her hotel room. Then he looked her up and down, the gleam in his eyes telling her that he remembered well their time together. He cleared his throat. "I'll cut to the chase, Sonia. I've known all along that you were INL. I wasn't concerned about it because I knew you weren't after me." Her mouth gaped open. He continued, "I came to you because you are the only one in law enforcement I could come to and not worry that you would have some sort of agenda. And I'd hope you wouldn't think I have an ulterior motive. What I'm about to ask…..its…its something that I'm just thinking about. Its not something I'm going to do, necessarily." He put his hands on his hips, looking anywhere but at her. "I haven't even….I haven't even talked to Jason about this." He rubbed his face.

Sonia sat down. She had a feeling this was going to be big. "Sonny, take your time." He sighed. "The cops, the feds….all my life they've been out to get me. Even before I became a criminal. My stepfather was a cop. I can't…I can't talk about what he did to me. And when I did start breaking the law, it never seemed like these guys came after me because it was just their job. It always seemed personal." She cocked her head. "Well it is, really. You have a code, Sonny, and when one of your kind breaks that code, you take it very personally. A cop's code is the law. And it's really upsetting when someone continually breaks that law without ever being punished." Sonny shook his head. "Look, this isn't what I came here to talk about. I guess I'm trying to say, I never approached a cop for help because I was always afraid that instead of helping me, they would use my…..vulnerability….against me."

Sonia smiled. "And you don't think of me that way. I'm honored, Sonny. What sort of help do you need? I'm sorry, I should say, that you might need, but not necessarily." He smiled, his dimples deepening. She almost forgot for a moment that Antonio existed. Then he stopped smiling, as he tried to form his words. "I know that the feds help criminals make a new life for themselves if they are willing to testify against an associate. They usually end up in Witness Protection, etcetera. What if…what if I wanted a new life? What if I wanted to be a legitimate business man, but I didn't want to roll over on someone, and I didn't want a new identity. Do the feds ever help a criminal reform, without anything in return except for one less mobster on the street?"

Sonia sat in stunned silence. Sonny was trying to frame this as casually as he could, but she wasn't fooled. This was big. This was major. She cleared her throat, trying to gather her thoughts. "Well, I don't know for sure. Usually mobsters try to do that on their own, by slowly cultivating their legitimate business, while easing out of the old ones. If they were to go to the feds for help, their rivals would be afraid that they would squeal, and so try to shut them up permanently. Which is why Witness Protection usually comes into play." Sonny nodded. "I tried going completely legit once. It worked out terribly. Suddenly my territory was open for every type of scum out there. I wouldn't be talking about working with law enforcement openly. Something behind the scenes. My job would be to transition my businesses into legitimate enterprises. The fed's job would be to make sure there is no fallout from my enemies. Is that possible, Sonia? Am I being ridiculous? Would the feds laugh in my face?"

Sonia paced back and forth. "You said something about the feds not getting anything out of it other than one less mobster on the street. You were being modest, Sonny. You are a very powerful man, and having you off the playing field, one way or the other, would be quite desirable. See, the tricky part is that as law enforcers, we are mandated to enforce the law when it is broken. Usually we don't look the other way for someone's past crimes unless that person does something for us that contributes to the greater good, such as handing us a bigger fish to fry. I suppose 'promising to never do it again' might count when you are a big fish, but I can't guarantee that. Maybe what you should do is try what you did before, and this time send the message that if the scum does come into your territory, that you will hand them over to the feds. I don't know, I'm just brainstorming here. It might help if I could talk about this with someone else and get his opinion." Sonny narrowed his eyes. "Who?" Sonia shrugged. "John McBain. Former FBI agent who is now on the force here in Llanview. An FBI agent would know more about your situation than INL. Of course his particular expertise was in serial killers, not the mob, but he's smart as a whip. And quite the bulldog. He kept nosing into the Santi organization until he figured out my cover. What a pain that was. Anyway, I'm digressing. I promise that if I ask him about it, your name won't be mentioned at all. He'll probably assume I'm talking about a Santi." Sonny tapped his finger. "Do you trust him?" Sonia shrugged. "I don't know him well enough for that, but someone I trust does trust him." Sonny laughed. "Well, I don't know if that counts, but I guess I'll take it. Call me."

Half and hour later, Sonny was sitting at the bar in a place called Capricorn. He ordered a drink, hoping to take the edge off his nerves before hopping the jet back to Port Charles. When the drink was set before him, a brief glance upward showed a different person than who had taken his order. Tall, black, and almost as sharply dressed as he was, Sonny was impressed. The man smiled and introduced himself. "My name is RJ Gannon, I am the owner of Capricorn. Welcome to Llanview, Mr. Corinthos. Your drink is on the house." Sonny supressed a grin. Since most law-abiding citizens who recognized him tended to shake in their shoes, he was willing to bet that Gannon's arrest record was probably as impressive as his wardrobe. "Thank you, Mr. Gannon. I like your place. My w…ex-wife has a similar establishment in Port Charles." RJ looked like he wanted to engage Sonny further, but a sexy blonde woman interrupted, whispering something about a gun and someone named Paul. She looked very upset, but when she glanced Sonny's way, her gaze lingered long enough to show her appreciation. With an apologetic look at Sonny, RJ moved away to speak with her.

Sonny sipped his drink, and then did a double take when he heard a familiar voice exclaim, "Sonny?" He turned around. Lois was standing behind him. She was wearing a halter top made out of some silvery shimmery material, and black hip hugging pants. Sonny busied himself with putting his drink on the bar to avoid staring at her breasts. Whenever she wore tops like that, he felt like he was a kid again in Brooklyn, staring at her developing breasts and trying not to salivate into Mrs. Cerullo's lasagna. Even now they were still so large and perfectly formed that his head felt this gravitational pull towards her cleavage. "Lois! You're the last person I expected to see here. Not that I expected to see anyone I know here." She smiled, her ice blue eyes dancing. "You can expect to see me anywhere and everywhere I might find a band to sign. This little backwater town is home to the one and only Midnight Logic. A really great band that had a bright future and was owned by a sleazy record label until their lead singer was attacked by a serial killer and her vocal cords damaged." Sonny frowned. "That's the second time in one day I've heard the term 'serial killer' in this town." Lois laughed, perplexed. "Which brings me to my question. Why are you here? In this town?" Sonny drummed his fingers on the bar. "Lois, when were you heading back to Port Charles?" She looked startled. "As a matter of fact, I just stopped in here on my way to the airport." Sonny stood up. "I was heading home, myself. Cancel your flight and come with me on my jet. We can talk privately there." She stared. "Sure, why not? I'll be right back." As she walked away, Sonny knocked back the rest of his drink. He needed to talk to someone, and suddenly it seemed to make perfect sense that Lois should be the one.

Sonny and Lois rode to the airport in silence, which was unusual for her. Several times she opened her mouth to say something, but changed her mind. She felt like every inch of her was prickly, and she realized that part of it was due to the fact that very rarely had she been this physically close to Sonny, in such a small space as a car. It was especially noticeable because for the past few days she had slowly realized that the reason for her crush on Lorenzo had been Sonny. All her life she had avoided mobsters because of her mother's advice. It hadn't been difficult since she tended to be attracted to musicians. She often wondered why her mother always harped only about mobsters and didn't warn her about musicians also. Maybe it was because her mother saw her lusting after the mobster sitting in their kitchen. Lois had never made it apparent, but her mother knew her well. Her ma noticed that she was noticing the cute lonely boy with the dimples becoming the sexy dangerous man with the dimples.

The first time Lois came to Port Charles her world revolved around Ned, and so the fact that her first crush resided there had only registerd a blip on her radar. This most recent time she was unattached; however Sonny was attached. Or rather, the lamprey that was Carly was attached to him. Still oblivious to her subconscious yearning for the man who had been featured in all her teenaged sex dreams, her hormones had gone on red alert and focused on the other man in town who was dark, dangerous, and incredibly sexy. She was surprised that it had taken her this long to make the comparison between her girlhood crush and her most recent flame. She started getting suspicious when she was so knocked off kilter by Sonny's request that she spy on Alcazar. Then when Alcazar tried to frame Sonny for the hit on Durant, it started to crystallize. The light bulb finally went off when Alcazar bombed Sonny's warehouse. She realized that if these two men went to war, there was no doubt who she hoped would come out alive.

As they pulled up next to the private airstrip, Lois realized she had been holding her breath. She'd been trying not to inhale the cologne Sonny was wearing, Obsession. Probably a gift from Carly. Damn, that woman had good taste. They entered the jet and settled in. Unable to take the silence anymore, Lois began to chat about air travel, and her experiences both on private jets and commercial flights. Sonny poured them a drink and after awhile began to look relaxed, almost sleepy. Feeling a hot all of a sudden, Lois took off her coat. After awhile, she began to notice that it seemed like his hooded gaze was directed at her breasts. Lois felt the blood rush to her head and her nipples hardened. "Wow, um…did it get cold in here, all of a sudden. Brrrr." She rubbed her arms. "Why did I take my clothes off? I mean, haha, how silly, I meant why did I take my coat off. I guess I figured it would be stuffy in here, which is what I usually experience on commercial flights." Sonny's gaze shifted from her breasts to her eyes. "I figured you took your coat off because you wanted me to have a better view of your breasts."

She stared at him, open-mouthed, for a few seconds, wondering if perhaps he had made a Freudian slip like she did, when she mixed up coat and clothes. But when he continued staring into her eyes, not correcting his words, she realized what he had done. In typical Sonny fashion, he had decided to quit playing games and bring out in the open the sexual tension that had been getting thicker and thicker for the past hour. Sonny wasn't one for sugar-coating things. She wondered how she should respond. Should she go for some sarcastic rebuff? A clever come on line? Not say a word and just attack him? Before she could make her decision, there was some static on the loudspeaker and the pilot informed them that there would be some turbulence. Lois started to feel around in her seat for the seatbelt, when a sudden jolt brought her crashing into Sonny, her breasts brushing against his thighs. "Well, now. Here they are jumping into my lap. Maybe I should pet them and give them names." Lois wanted to be appalled, but she burst into giggles. She would never have figured Sonny for a breast man. She tried to push herself upright without actually touching him, but that was impossible. She tried not to whimper as she finally pulled her hands away from his warm thighs. She was about to say something, anything, to find out what their next move should be, when the pilot (damn she was beginning to hate this man) announced that they would be landing shortly. So soon? Suddenly Lois was struck by a nonsexual thought. "Sonny, you never told me what it was you wanted to talk about, the reason why you were in Llanview."

Sonny didn't say anything for a moment. He reached over to her seat, felt around for her lap belt, and buckled it. Finally, he looked into her eyes. "It was because of you, Lois. I mean, you weren't the reason, really. This has been a long time coming. But it struck me tonight that you were there when my life started going down this dark path that has brought me wealth, power, and intense suffering. You were there but I couldn't touch you. Where I was going, you couldn't come along. And now you are here again, at the point where I want to….where I plan to end it all." Lois's eyes widened in horror. "End it all?" Sonny shook his head and smiled ruefully. "Not what you're thinking, Lois. I mean end the accumulation of wealth, power, and hopefully, God help me, hopefully end the intense suffering. My reasons for doing it are my children. But the catalyst was you. My friend. The only person in my life who has known me most of my life. The only person in my life who hasn't been sucked into my dark world. I need you, Lois. I'm going to need you to lean on in what will be the most difficult time of my life. The people who love me will be afraid, might even fight me on this. The people who hate me will be suspicious and try to take advantage. If I don't have you there as my rock, my one source of sanity…. I don't want to be alone in this, Lois. I don't want to be flying solo."

Lois took Sonny's hand in hers. "Look around you, Sonny," she whispered, "you aren't flying solo." As she smiled, the jet began its descent into Port Charles.


End file.
